- Summary
- The war orphans of World War II in East Prussia were called Wolf Children. They roamed the Baltic countryside in search for food and shelter. Hundreds of thousand Germans fled the advancing Red Army in East Prussia and Königsberg at the end of the Second World War. Time and again children got lost or went missing on the flight. While some witnessed the murder of members of their own family, others were forced to helplessly watch their siblings die of starvation, the grandparents die from weakness, or the mother succumb to an epidemic. On their own, these kids now tried to survive in the forests of the Baltic states. "When I first heard about the fate of the Wolf Children in the spring of 2011, I was deeply touched and at the same time surprised that I had never heard of them before. It's a topic that has gripped me ever since. Early in my research I met my journalist colleague Sonya Winterberg who was also interested in the topic and had started to write a book. We decided to collaborate and to preserve as much of their life stories as we possibly could by speaking with them and photographing not only the individuals, but also whatever tangible memories they would show us. Around 63 wolf children are left in Lithuania today, most of whom are well advanced in years. To date we have visited 42 of them during a number of trips and many have become very dear to us."--Claudia Heinermann, Exhibition: Nutshuis Den Haag, the Netherlands.
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Heinermann, Claudia, 1967- photographer.
- Published
- [Rijswijk] : [Claudia Heinermann], [2015]
©2015
- Locale
- Germany
Lithuania
- Other Authors/Editors
- Boltz, Ulrich, translator.
Winterberg, Sonya, author, translator.
- Notes
-
Spine title.
"Limited edition: 750"--Page 3 of cover.
Text in German and English.
